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Friday, October 2, 2009
Film / Film Reviews / News Whip It: Rolling in style
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:01 PM
By Matt Brunson
WHIP IT
DIRECTED BY Drew Barrymore
STARS Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden
Despite the title, you won't find any Devo on Whip It's soundtrack, but the Ramones and .38 Special both make vocal appearances in this film that marks the directorial debut of Drew Barrymore. If those two songs ("Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Caught Up in You," respectively) made the journey from Drew's iPod to the big screen, more power to them, as they're certainly in tune with the rock & roll aesthetic on display throughout this rowdy, rebellious film.
Film / Film Reviews / News No Impact Man: Earth-saving ego trip
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:01 PM
By Matt Brunson
NO IMPACT MAN
DIRECTED BY Laura Gabbert & Justin Schein
STARS Colin Beavan, Michelle Conlin
Another Michael Moore documentary? Well, no, but it's accurate to say that No Impact Man is cut from the same inflammatory cloth.
Film / Film Reviews / News Big Fan: American idolizing
Posted By Matt Brunson on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:00 PM
By Matt Brunson
BIG FAN
DIRECTED BY Robert D. Siegel
STARS Patton Oswalt, Kevin Corrigan
Robert D. Siegel, who wrote the original screenplay for last year's superb drama The Wrestler, now makes his directorial debut with a picture that shifts the spotlight from the sports arena to the stands.
Boomer with Attitude / News Happy now, conservatives? Chicago out of Olympics running
Posted By John Grooms on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Conservatives can breathe a sigh of relief now: their rooting against America has paid off. Yep, Chicago, as well as Tokyo, have been eliminated as host cities for the 2016 Olympics. As was just announced, the race to host the sporting extravaganza is now over, and Rio won. I hope the right wing is happy.
Not that their endless bitching had anything to do with the International Olympics Committee's (IOC) decision, but it's been interesting to see just how far today's conservatives will push their priorities – i.e., running down Pres. Obama, as opposed to rooting for their own country on the international stage. Conservatives have spent the past few days whining that Obama’s 15-hour trip to Copenhagen was diverting him from more important issues; insulting one of America’s great cities, Chicago; and belittling the Olympics. GOP morals czar “Gamblin’ Bill” Bennett even said he was rooting for Rio rather than Chicago. And these are the guys, remember, who play up the issue of “patriotism” 24/7, ad nauseam. Apparently, it’s patriotic now to root against your own country.
Conservative bloggers and pundits have already started gloating -- gloating – that Obama couldn’t convince the IOC, and that he’s a poopy-head from a doo-doo city that “real Americans” don’t like, nyah nyah nyah. What a bunch of whiny-ass losers that whole movement has turned into. Here's some of their fine, journalistic work.
Boomer with Attitude / News Whoopi Part 2 ... aka Stupid Thing of the Week
Posted By John Grooms on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 11:27 AM
We usually do the Stupid Thing of the Week on Friday but, honestly, we couldn’t find anything this week that was any more stupid than something we wrote about yesterday. Of course, we’re talking about Whoopi Goldberg’s defense of film director Roman “Lucky 13” Polanski. If you missed it, you can read our take on Ms. Whoopi and Polanski here. Last night, Saturday Night Live had their own take on Goldberg’s air-headed statements, so take a look.
Arts / Today's Top Five / News Today's Top 5: Friday
Posted By Anita Overcash on Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 8:00 AM
Here are the five best events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area today, Oct. 2, 2009 — as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
• Bodies: Steel and Skin exhibition at Doma Gallery
• Master Class at Carolina Actors Studio Theatre
• Colin Hay at Neighborhood Theatre
• 4th Annual Whitewater Festival at U.S. National Whitewater Center
• Charlotte Roller Girls Free Exhibition Bout at Ayrsley Grand Cinemas 14
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Arts / See & Do: The Weekender / News Weekender
Posted By Anita Overcash on Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 5:40 PM
Check out these events going down in Charlotte and the surrounding area this weekend— as selected by the folks at Creative Loafing.
Friday, Oct. 2
Belk Theater
Fast moving footwork and stellar stories define the dancers in A Chorus Line. But, the dancing business is no game. Out of 17 dancers, auditioning for a show, only eight will be chosen. Don’t miss this touching performance at Belk Theater.
• Art Doma Gallery’s newest exhibition, Bodies: Steel and Skin will celebrate its revealing opening with a reception tonight, from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. more...
• Festival Create a splash during the 4th Annual Whitewater Festival at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. At the festival, which starts today and continues on Sat., Oct.3, folks can enjoy live music and canoe/kayak action. more...
Saturday, Oct. 3
Great Grapes Wine, Art & Food Festival
Symphony Park
Pack up the picnic blankets and lawn chairs and head out for a day of relaxation and wine during Great Grapes Wine, Art & Food Festival at Symphony Park. Don't drink? The festival also offers entertainment, food, wine and food seminars, and more than 50 exhibits too.
• Theater Queen City Theatre Company’s latest production, Sordid Lives, - showing at Duke Energy Theatre - is a black comedy about white trash. That said, you can expect lots of drama. more...
• Music Canadian-based indie rock act Islands drifts into Amos’ Southend with an assortment of new tunes from its latest album Vapours. Happy Mondays and Psychedelic Furs also perform. more...
Sunday, Oct. 4
737 Stockbridge Dr., Fort Mill
Find comfort in food (barbeque, wings, mac and cheese, banana pudding and more) at Fort Mill BBQ Company: Catered Southern Cuisine.
• Special Event Don’t be a drag … just because it's Sunday doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Tonight at Petra’s Piano Bar a special show, titled “A Night Of Celebrity Illusion” will feature drag queens impersonating stars like Reba, Cher, Boy George and more. more...
• Music Allman Brothers Band and Widespread Panic unite for a long night of rockin’ at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre. Plan to be sleepy on Monday morning. more...
News Eastway Park opens Saturday
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 4:22 PM
From the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Parks and Recreation Department:
The park is being developed in phases behind the shopping center at Eastway and The Plaza. It incorporates the old Briarwood Park (33 acres) plus additional 90 new acres.
Phase I cost $3.6 million, paid for by Park and Rec bonds approved by voters. Phase I includes two athletic fields for soccer or football (on the Eastway side), two softball fields (on the Briarwood side), restrooms and parking. Additional phases come as funding is available. Eastway Park serves many neighborhoods: Plaza Park, Highland Trace, Citiside, Shannon Park, Hampshire Hills, Bridlewood, Eastbrook, Green Meadows, and Green Forest.
News / Biz EPA flexing its muscles
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 2:20 PM
Go Lisa, go Lisa, go Lisa, go!
Lisa Jackson, the EPA's administrator, doesn't have time to wait on Congress to politic their way around the massive environmental issues our world is facing. She's using her authority to make change happen NOW.
Unwilling to wait for Congress to act, the Obama administration announced on Wednesday that it was moving forward on new rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from hundreds of power plants and large industrial facilities.President Obama has said that he prefers a comprehensive legislative approach to regulating emissions and stemming global warming, not a piecemeal application of rules, and that he is deeply committed to passage of a climate bill this year.
But he has authorized the Environmental Protection Agency to begin moving toward regulation, which could goad lawmakers into reaching an agreement. It could also provide evidence of the United States’ seriousness as negotiators prepare for United Nations talks in Copenhagen in December intended to produce an international agreement to combat global warming.
“We are not going to continue with business as usual,” Lisa P. Jackson, the E.P.A. administrator, said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. “We have the tools and the technology to move forward today, and we are using them.”
Ms. Jackson described the proposal as a common-sense rule tailored to apply to only the largest facilities — those that emit at least 25,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year — which are responsible for nearly 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The rule would not, as critics contend, cover “every cow and Dunkin’ Donuts,” Ms. Jackson said.
Earlier this month, Jackson spoke to NPR's Diane Rehms:
Boomer with Attitude / News Steele's self-UNawareness on parade
Posted By John Grooms on Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 1:49 PM
You can’t make up priceless stories like this. On Tuesday, best-selling author and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote that the current vicious, angry tone of U.S. politics was destructive and, at the very least, ineffective in solving the nation’s major problems. Friedman also warned that “Criticism from the far right has begun tipping over ... and creating the same kind of climate here that existed in Israel on the eve of the [Yitzhak] Rabin assassination." Rabin was an Israeli prime minister who was assassinated in 1995 by a right-wing Israeli radical.
Now, just last week, Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent out a fundraising letter in which he compared Pres. Obama to Joseph Stalin and Kim Jong Il. When asked yesterday about the column by the Pulitzer Prize-winning Friedman, which lamented the angry tone of today’s far right, Steele replied, “"Where do these nutjobs come from?”
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Bank errors continue to cause wrongful foreclosures
Charlotte's Bank of America is all mixed up in this mess.
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5 Reasons To Buy Home Insurance Policy
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Question the Queen City: The story of Nellie Freeman, aka 'Razor Girl' 2
She decapitated her husband, was declared innocent, and never hurt another soul.
